this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've had a Fitbit, Samsung Smart, and Garmin. Fitbit and Samsung were almost a daily charge where my Garmin Solar lasts about a week. Both Fitbit and Samsung died on me roughly after a year and a half, Garmin has shown no issues.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'll be switching to Garmin next time for other reasons, but my current Fitbit (Versa 3) actually has great battery life. 6-7 days between charges, unless I'm using the screen a lot.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Apple Watch just makes sense if you are already on iPhone. I resisted it for a long time but now after getting one it is so useful for things like having access to DUO codes on your wrist without a phone and maintaining healthy habits

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Love my Apple Watch! Its main downside compared to the rest is weak battery life, you basically need to charge it every day. It’s an easy habit to form though (I just throw mine on the charger when I shower).

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Mine chargers super fast and so yeah I can charge it while I do my bed time routine and have it 100% to track sleep and be ready for the next day

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

personally i am fine with the garmin on ios, only annoyance is double notifications

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah I just picked up an Ultra after not having one since the first gen. Very useful for sleep tracking, short cuts (if you have a smart home) and all kinds of other crap. Works nice with AirPod max too.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's only one smart watch that matters! This was the boyo!

All my phone numbers, my entire school lesson schedule, a calculator - everything 10 year old me ever needed!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

If you had one of these when the TV came out in class, you were a god:

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (13 children)

For the most detailed exercise/health tracking, I'd highly recommend Garmin watches. First, no subscription fees, you buy the hardware and you own it and can customize it a lot. Second, the battery life can't be beat. Third, stats, graphs, analytics! Plus it works just as well whether you're an apple or android user.

I have the Forerunner 265 and it is so much fun for a stats and graph loving nerd like myself. My gf chose the Venu 2 Sq because she wanted a square screen and she is really happy with it.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

I've been a happy Fitbit user for years, but am finding their Premium push increasingly annoying. I shouldn't have to pay a subscription fee to see data that my tracker is already getting. I almost switched to Garmin last time but didn't, and I regret that now. My current Fitbit is still in great shape so it'll be a while until I can justify a new tracker.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I tried random Android watches. They all sucked.

I bought a Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. I love it. Charge it when I shower and that gets me by, have never had to charge it overnight. Battery is at 15 days currently.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I like my Pixel watch. It's battery life doesn't last more than 1.5 days, but I have no issues charging it for 15 or so mins in the morning.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I wear an analog which has nothing to track and connect to a phone. Just like the good ol' days.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The Pebble watches. They may not be made anymore, but they are the only smart watches I have used that felt like an actual smart watch instead of a phone for your wrist. Once mine dies, I may switch to a BangleJS.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Isn't the point of making a watch smart is that you can get your phone onto your wrist?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Still miss my pebble...

Rocked a Garmin a few years, now I'm trying galaxy watch 5 pro. Miss the week long battery but 2+ days is "ok", a lot less annoying then I first thought it would be.

Exelent integration with my phone is a big plus. (For instance the Garmin never let me respond to alarms from the Samsung clock app :/ )

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I still like fitbit. The metrics are solid, and the battery life is decent.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Same. A solid watch. And lightweight and comfortable. And a style I enjoy. A decent app. Just too bad it ate another smart watch company, before itself got eaten by google, who so far has done nothing with it except slowly killing features. We are truly living in the age of #enshittification.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm happily on the garmin ecosystem. Felix 5x is still going strong for about 2 weeks battery on normal use. takes a beating and still looks new. only had to replace the band. I use garmin on my bike too

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Only had the pixel watch but I really like it

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Second this. Battery life is only good for like 1.5 days but it charges in like 15 mins so it's not a big deal for me. Sleep tracking and fitness tracking have been good. Only thing I don't like is the default strap it comes with; it was irritating my skin. The stretchy fabric one is so much better.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I just want something that auto tracks my fitness, shows the time, and shows notifications from my phone on a nice looking display. Everything else is bloat for me.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I use a Garmin vivomove Sport! It has a physical analog watch with a screen underneath the watch face. It tracks my steps and activities I engage in as well as shows me notifications from my phone. It has quite a lot of other options such as stress and sleep tracking as well but those are purely optional.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Amazfit with Gadgetbridge, FLOSS smartwatch app, a recent really good discovery!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is there one that exists that isn't ugly, can last for weeks and isn't the size of a dinner plate? (i t s not even the diameter thats the problem, its the thickness. I absolutely hate thick watches)

When they invent one that meets that criteria, let me know and I'll consider it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Have you looked into withings? They're analog watches with a small lcd for notifications, fitness tracking, etc. They last a month between charges and are not too big.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I have been using a PineTime for quite a while now which is an absolute no-brainer for 27$.
Even if it’s marketed for tech/foss enthusiasts it’s really easy to use, would recommend if you just want simple step tracking and heart rate monitoring.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (4 children)

While there are a lot of comments saying Garmin, I haven't seen people mention the privacy aspect

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/categories/wearables/

Garmin apps are much better for privacy. If I'm going to be wearing a biometric tracker 24/7, I don't want that data being sold to advertisers. That's more important to me than most other features

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I really like Samsung's Watch 5, both in terms of appearance but also software and tracking performance. It's the only sleep tracker that actually matches my subjective experience with sleep (how tired I feel, how many times I remember waking up, etc).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If they didn’t lock features to Samsung phones I might be interested in the 6.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I only really need something to keep track of my notifications, and maybe as a flashlight occasionally. So I just wear a PineTime, and it links up with my phone with Gadget Bridge. It's really nice, completely free and open source, and it's pretty cheap too. Week long battery life is nice, but I don't know what it's like with other smartwatches.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Is there something like a fitness bracelet without a display that one could wear? I already have an old school Casio digital watch, and I like to too much to replace it with a smartwatch.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My cousin has a tracker ring and it's pretty cool

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I've only tried my Pixel Watch, and it's not perfect, but I do really enjoy it. Fitness tracking is pretty on point with sleep tracking being really solid and important for me since sleeping has always been a more difficult part of my life.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Garmin Instinct 2 Solar. It's light and durable, solar charging with several weeks between charges when using GPS tracking pretty regularly.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Casio need to market their watches better, they have the Smartest dumbwatch**** of them all -

Casio have several lines that support Bluetooth - essentially will beep and vibrate on Notifications, calls and messages. Does basic fitness tracking. It also does all of this whilst basically being indestructible and a battery life of atleast 3 years.

No one seems to know this and I blame Casios poor marketing - I didn't know any of this until I bought a new G-Shock and realised it had a BT label in the manual.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Anything that works with Gadgetbridge is a good choice.Or maybe pinetime or bangle.js those look pretty cool too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I have both an iPhone and Pixel. Because of that, I also have a Pixel Watch and an Apple Watch. I prefer using my Pixel Watch since Fitbit is so much better IMO than Apple Fitness.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I have a garmin epix 2, best Damn watch ever. It lasts roughly 2 weeks on a charge. All the same features as the Fenix but OLED display.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Got my first fitness watch couple months ago. It was a Garmin and tbh I freaking love it!!! As a lot of comments already mentioned, Garmin gave very detail information, and the battery life just can't beat I would definitly do it again!

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